Alina Kovaleva tops Jennifer Jones in Players’ Championship pool play
Team Alina Kovaleva from the Russian Curling Federation improved to a 2-0 record in the Princess Auto Players’ Championship at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.
Kovaleva took two points in the fourth and stole one in the fifth en route to a 5-3 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones during Wednesday’s round-robin action.
Jones, who has captured a record six Players’ Championship women’s titles, now has a 1-1 record.
Elsewhere, Team Min-Ji Kim of South Korea also climbed to 2-0 with a 7-5 victory over Team Tabitha Peterson (7-4) from the United States.
Humpty’s Champions Cup winner Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa bounced back to level their record at 1-1 with a 7-4 victory over Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg (1-1). Homan, who captured her record-extending 11th Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title Monday, fell to Kovaleva in Tuesday’s opening draw.
Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa (1-1) picked up her first win of the tournament downing three-time Players’ Champions Team Eve Muirhead of Scotland 11-5.
Two more round-robin draws are on tap Wednesday. The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is closed to the public. Watch live coverage of the next draw at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 360.
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the second of back-to-back Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling events in the bubble featuring 12 of the top men’s teams and 12 of the top women’s teams from around the world. Both divisions are split into two pools for round-robin play with the top six overall qualifying for Saturday’s quarterfinals. The semifinals go down Saturday evening with both championship games scheduled for Sunday.
